Two-week experience of synthetic biology in Tartu

Hello! My name is Olga, and I am a third-year bachelor’s student in Immunology and Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. I have always been open and enthusiastic about new opportunities, especially in terms of studying and gaining more experience, so when I found out about summer courses available at the University of Tartu, I applied without hesitation.

When I was applying, I had just finished the second year at my university. I still haven't decided what my final specialisation would be, as biology is a very broad field, and you have to try different areas before you actually decide what you want to do in the future. UniTartu Summer School of Synthetic Biology and its Applications (see more here) became one of the great options for me to choose, as it was mainly focused on the bacterial genetics area, or molecular cloning in particular and took place in a digitally advanced country of Estonia.

Firstly, I noticed that the summer course was mainly for high-school and first-year undergraduate students, so I was a little bit worried that I might have been overqualified for it. Eventually, it turned out to be completely the opposite! Even with my strong foundational knowledge and basic lab skills, I learned a lot of new and useful information and was able to expand my technical and laboratory skills even more.

The summer course in Synthetic Biology and its Applications mainly included lab work and additional lectures. Firstly, we transformed E.coli with plasmid containing Estradiol transcription factor, checked the results by preparing samples for Sanger sequencing and then later we transformed yeast (which I had never worked with before!) with the same plasmid construct. All the work went confidently, as all the instructors were eager to explain every step we performed. As for lectures, the most impactful for me was one about logic gates and their applications in synthetic biology, since this topic was completely new to me and now the notes I took really help me in my current studies.

Beyond lab work and lectures, we had a lot of different social events organised by the UniTartu Summer School team. I must admit that before going to the school, I thought I would struggle in finding new friends but at the board game night, I met so many interesting and friendly people there. Participants were from all other summer courses in different fields and I realised that I wouldn’t be alone for the rest of the summer school. I also really enjoyed cultural events like visiting the University of Tartu Museum and taking the city tour, which provided us with a lot of exciting information about the rich history and culture of Tartu.

Overall, I would definitely recommend going to UniTartu Summer School, as it provides you with completely different experiences not only in terms of studying and gaining new skills but also in communication. You will meet people from different countries, with diverse backgrounds and cultures, which makes it even more unique and exciting, and they may become your long-term friends, as happened to me.

Thank you for reading my story, and good luck in your future endeavours!

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